That'd Be Right: A Fairly True History of Modern Australia by McInnes, William (2009) Paperback

William McInnes brings the World, or at least Australia, into our backyards as he writes about families and sport and politics and life in his familiar style that makes you feel as if he is sitting down talking to you. Both funny and insightful That d Be Right is part memoir, part personal history of Australia over the last thirty years. It s a biographical trip told through sport, and families and William s own experiences. He writes: As with A Man s Got to Have a Hobby I weave in and around the events that have held such fascination for this country over the last thirty years or so, connecting them all with the progression of a life. Some of these events would be considered momentous, some small and personal. And all are seen through William s eyes. They range from a day at the Melbourne Cup with his mother where too many champagnes and too few winners were picked; a swimming carnival early in the morning after a gloomy and long federal election the night before; watching truly surreal Grand Final moments in a pub with a group of odd and unknown bar companions. Sailing on a massive yacht during the Sydney Olympics while listening to the conversation of an elderly lady from Texas in the cabin below. William also writes about a night at the cricket with his son, which shows how things can change and oddly come full circle.